Derby C in Close Battle with Clay Cross A

On Tuesday (30/9/25), Derby C (now in the second division) travelled to Clay Cross to take on their A team. Two years ago, Clay Cross A were the Second Division champions, and with the addition of Dean Hartley, they are now probably stronger

I played my usual London system, but the game veered into unknown territory early on. There was little in it until the last move when Anthony was pressing for an advantage but missed the impact of my pawn push, and he resigned.

Shah had the black pieces in what was an even game up to move 13, where he missed the chance to take a pawn and keep the game level. He miscalculated, and Dean took the initiative, eventually winning a pawn and opening up a rook attack against the King, forcing Shah to eventually resign.

Carl had a good opening and started to trade pieces so that he could enter a favourable endgame. Unfortunately he blundered a piece but still had chances to queen a pawn. Paul exploited Carl's back rank weakness forcing the loss of the past pawn and any chance of success.

Matt’s opponent, a late replacement, launched a pawn storm during the opening. By move 12, he had moved a pawn 10 times, with eight of those on the trot. Matt managed to defend it and felt okay going into a complex middle game. He managed to go a knight and a pawn up but failed to castle. This gave Brian the chance to launch a strong attack on Matt’s kingside. Despite the material advantage, Matt’s position looked fairly desperate. However, Brian’s time trouble forced him to offer a draw, which was accepted.

	Clay Cross A		2½ - 1½	Derby C
1	Natt, Anthony L	1915	0 - 1	Williams, David	1839
2	Hartley, Dean M	1839	1 - 0	Hussain, Shah	1827
3	Williams, Paul	1668	1 - 0	Weighill, Carl	1687
4	Lever, Brian	1566	½ - ½	Caswell, Matthew	1611

Dave Williams 1/10/25